Digital BW, The Print

I've been making very nice black and white images with my S9000 for a 
couple of years, using Lyson Quad Black inks.  You can buy these inks in 
bulk and refill cartridges just as easily as with color inks.  I bought a 
second Canon, an S900, and now have one printer for color and one for B&W, 
and can swap the print heads in case the carriage on one of the printers 
goes out.  (I also keep a spare print head on hand, in case a head dies - I 
think I'm pretty well prepared for any disaster.)  Lyson Quad Black 
prefilled cartridges are very expensive and not easily refilled, so you 
wouldn't want to plan on going that way on a permanent basis.  But you 
could try a set and see how you like them, and if you decide to go that 
route get some virgin empties and bulk inks and refill your own.  I get 
virgin empties from Inkjet Goodies, and the ink from Marrutt in England - 
good pricing, very responsive and free shipping to the US.

For the simplest B&W printing that I'm aware of, that also lets you do 
Black Only printing if you like, look at an Epson C84 with MIS EZ 
inks.  Except for the need to reset the computer chip in the cartridge when 
refilling, aftermarket C84 cartridges are almost as easy to refill as the 
Canon ones (Epson brand carts cannot be refilled easily - the aftermarket 
models I get from MIS have a sponge compartment and reservoir similar to 
the Canon layout.)  Chip resetting really takes just a $20 (or less) 
hardware item and one extra step in the refill process - you wouldn't think 
anything of it if you hadn't already refilled Canon carts without the 
step.  MIS has announced a translucent cartridge for the C84, which will 
make refilling just as simple as with a Canon cart - at the moment the 
virgin empties they supply are opaque, so you refill until the reservoir 
overflows, which is a bit messier than with a Canon.

The C84 is not as fast as a Canon printer, but it uses pigment inks which 
theoretically will last longer than the dye inks that the Canon needs. I 
like the results with the C84 a lot.  Tone of the print can be varied from 
neutral to quite warm by appropriate placement of neutral or warm inks in 
the C, M and Y positions, and the overall tone can also be adjusted pretty 
dramatically by the choice of paper - some are very cool while others are 
quite warm.  The disadvantage of the C84/EZ ink system is that it cannot 
take variable tone inks like you could put in a 1280 - you can vary the 
tone of the printed output by selecting the appropriate neutral or warm 
inks to load into the printer, and by the choice of paper, but you cannot 
easily change from a cool to a warm print on the same paper with just some 
menu selections, like you can with variable ink sets on other 
printers.  You also have to decide whether you're going to print on matte 
or glossy paper, as you have to use a different black ink for each paper 
type.  I've decided that matte paper works for me (I used to think 
otherwise) and have settled on an EZ ink setup that works for me.  If you 
decide to go with a C84 you could try a set of the prefilled EZ cartridges 
from MIS and see for yourself - if you like the results, you can refill the 
MIS cartridges, or go to a CIS if you're going to do a lot of printing.

Cheers,
Kip

At 9/6/2004 07:50 PM +0000, John wrote:
>I would like to print decent black and white photos. I know I will
>need to do this with a dedicated BW printer. I plan to purchase an
>Epson 1280 for this, because I can at least print Black Only with it.
>I have a Canon 9000 now and it makes really great color but not very
>good black and white. They have a color tint depending on the paper.
>I usually use Red River paper. I like the Canon for ease of refilling
>ink cartridges. I can do that without taking them out of the printer.
>
>I use Paint Shop Pro, and Qimage.
>
>What ink would be the easiest - just stick in cartridges and print
>decent black and white prints. I also want to refill my ink
>cartridges.
>
>I have many hundreds of old black/white negatives from a long time
>ago I would like to print. They don't have to be museum quality and
>they don't have to last for a hundred years. I have maybe a year to
>enjoy them. I don't want to spend my remaining time being a techno
>about this, I just want to make decent black and white prints from my
>negatives, not somthing with a greenish tint like I get now with my
>color printer.
>
>What will I get the best results from, with the least amount of time
>and effort put into it?  Lyson Quad Black, MIS, what??